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Agudah Scores Synagogue Council for Policy Statement on Viet Nam

January 20, 1966
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Issue with the Synagogue Council of America, which appealed to President Johnson to resist pressure for escalating the war in Viet Nam if the current U.S. peace offensive should fail, was taken here today by Agudath Israel of America, an Orthodox Jewish movement.

“We deplore the intervention by the Synagogue Council in the current controversy over American policy in Viet Nam, because it creates a false image of the position taken by the Jewish citizens of our country in this delicate and complex area,” a statement issued by Agudath Israel said. “By joining the chorus of ill-informed advisers seeking to bind the hands of the President in the Viet Nam conflict, the Synagogue Council may unwittingly strengthen the intransigent posture of the adversaries of the United States, and thus harm the cause of peace.”

The statement stresses that “the Synagogue Council cannot speak in behalf of the Orthodox Jews in the United States, as the majority of the American Orthodox rabbinic organizations have rejected membership in this agency on religious principles.”

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